The Portland daily press., 1887-06-14
HEAVY FAILURES.
Several New York Houses Meet with
Reverses.
A Panic In the Coffee Market.
Opinion that the Market has
Touched Bottom.

New YORK, June 13. 1t was announced
at the coffee exchange this afternoon that X.
&. Arnold 81 Co., one of the biggest houses
in the trade, had failed. The liabilities are
very heavy. The failuae of Norton, Weyl &
Beyan, 101 Water street, and Small & Mac
key, are also announced. The failure Of.Ar-
mold q Co. Is supposed TO have been caused
chiefly by the inability Of the house to remit
margins IN time. Their liabilities are stated
above 81, 100000. A New York bank Is said
70 be heavily involved. The liabilities Of
Mackey u Small are estimated from Sl5OOOO
TO S3O0000 Gruner, Jos. j. 0'Donoghue and
other strong houses bought largely at bottom
prices, SO as TO sustain the market and make
the losses as small as possible.
Another failure announced was the firm of
w. L. Norton Il Co., coffee brokers. 100 Wat
er street. Their liabilities are not more
than $4,000 Their business is chiefly done
with Baltimore parties. Late this afternoon
December coffee advanced to II cents. The
sales to-day were over half million bags.
The total drop in coffee from the highest
point two weeks ago amounts to over six
cents per pound. The market rallied sharp
~ after the last failure and closed compare
lively strong
A drop Of 270 points In June coffee. and
heavy declines for the other months caused
panic in the coffee Exchange today. Wild
confusion prevailed and $4,000 bags of
coffee were sold, or twice as many as on
any previous day in the history of the ex-
quence with liabilities which, 1t is expected,
will exceed 81, 100000. In explanation of the
furry the market Is said to have broken
through with its own weight, as Arnold &
Co., the principal firm involved, kept buying
until, they dared not unload for fear Of
knocking hole in the. prices. Arnold &
Co.'S Liabilities are estimated by outsiders
at S1,Cc0,00o or over; Maekey, Small & Co.,
at S2Co,Cc0, while those Of Norton, Weyl &
Beyan are considerable, A break in the
market followed Arnold u Co.'s failure.
Several firms, including j. j. ODonohue Il
Son and w. Ii. Crossman IL Brothers then
combined to prevent further decline, and
June coffee rallied 145 points before the
close. Arnold Co. attribute their failure
70 lack OF time to obtain margins from Gus
toners IN Buenos Ayres and Europe. 9th
er firms were carried down with them. b. g
Arnold, the senior member Of Arnold & Co.
was overwhelmed in 1882 by a collapse OF
one Of the largest deals in coffee ever at
tempted. His firms liabilities then were
over S2,O00,Cc0. They compromised for six
ty cents on dollar He is known as the
founder Of the coffee exchange, and was its
nrst president He has been identified with
trade since lS49, and Is at present in business
with his son, Francis G.. Mackey and Small,
claiming capital Of S50,CC0. The firm con-
slsts OF John d. Maekey and Cyrus K.
Small. They did business in spot coffees
and futures.
Inc nrm OF Norton, Weyl Il Beran was
formed on the first Inst, composed of Frank
Norton, q. Z. Weyl and G. f. Beyan,
succeeding to the business of WI. Norton &
Co. Late in the afternO Oon a private cable
was received bv Arnold Il Co., and j. M.
Edwards x Co., notifying them through
Bradshaw Of Rio Janeiro that the exporta-
tion Of September coffee would probably be
reduced from 2,2500OO bags to consid-
erably less than 100000 bags.
Such step by reducing the supply will
bull the market. The general opinion seemsto
be that the market has touched bottom and
will be stronger tomorrow. The extreme
decline in the price Of coffee for the past
two weeks is from p 80, two weeks ago 10 IL
cents today or over 81 cents pound. There
was some talk Of trouble in banking circles
as the result of today's panic, but as the
banks only loaned 80 per cent of the market
value on coffee it is hard to see how any of
them could have been involved.